We were sitting in Gill's backyard later that day, listening to Lizzo blaring out of Gill's speakers and sipping on the drinks she had made. The others weren't here, Sam had to help her aunt out with something and Tyler was on a family trip.
I glanced at Asher from the corner of my eye, wondering why exactly he wanted me to come here with him. Gill on the other hand seemed to be as careless and free of worries as always, sprawled out on her sun lounger and appearing not to have a single care in the world.
I didn't exactly feel good as hell, but I didn't feel too bad either. So far, this little meet up hadn't been so bad. We had talked, we had laughed, and even though Asher and I hadn't exactly been the most excited about the situation, Gill had managed to pass the awkward gaps in between conversations.
Speaking frankly, without Gill, all this would have gone very differently.
"So I saw the coach yesterday," she said, a wide grin spreading on her face. "He was with his little son, Lio. Honestly, I don't know how such a scary man can produce such an angel."
"Produce," Asher repeated, his gaze fixed on his drink. Gill rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, Ash, produce. I'm pretty sure Redmille's a beast, if you catch my drift." She leant back with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, and I pulled a face.
"Ew, woman. Disgusting."
"What? I'm pretty sure you've already had this thought at least once." Gill shot me an accusing look, and I hated how my cheeks turned the slightest bit red.
"Of course not. He's like, forty."
"He's thirty-six," Asher chimed in, glancing up at me. "Didn't know that was your type."
Rolling my eyes, I reached for the pillow next to me, tossing it at his head. He caught it with ease before looking away to hide the faint grin spreading on his face.
I caught a glimpse of it though, and it was enough to make my stomach clench.
"He's ripped," Gill said. "Honestly, I'm not sure if my arms would even fit around his upper body. Hugging would be quite the challenge."
"Can you stop thinking about him now?" I replied, forcing my tone to mirror my irritation. "Honestly. Get a boyfriend."
Gill laughed, setting her drink down at the coffee table between us. "Honey, no. You don't get to talk about relationships with me."
The redness on my cheeks was back, this time stronger, causing my whole face to burn as I rolled my eyes. Thankfully my phone was vibrating in my pocket in that moment, and I pulled it out to check who had texted me.
It was Conan, asking me if I wanted to go on a ride with him later.
Asher pulled out his phone as well, checking the time. "I should probably head home soon. I have to prepare dinner again today."
That meant I would probably leave soon as well, since we had already been here for a few hours. So I texted Conan back, telling him to come pick me up in a few minutes, and briefly describing where Gill's house was.
- Asher's POV -
"I should probably head home soon. I have to prepare dinner again today."
Gill turned her head into my direction. "Again? You're like, a master chef now. Gordon Ramsay is quaking."
I shrugged. "I'll probably just make pasta. Or something with potatoes, I don't know."
I glanced at Kiri when Gill started talking about what she had made for lunch today. He was on his phone, texting someone. When he was done he shoved it back into his pocket, his attention returning to us.
He briefly waited for Gill to finish speaking before saying, "I have to leave in a couple minutes, too."
The girl sighed and got up. "Everyone's leaving me. Nobody loves me."
"Wait, I'll help you carry the stuff in," I said, already getting up as well. We picked up the three now empty glasses and made our way inside, leaving Kiri back in the garden.
"You know I can carry three glasses myself, right," Gill said once we were in the kitchen. I shrugged, setting the stuff down in the sink before turning around to her.
"Did you know Kiri smokes?"
She narrowed her eyes for the briefest of seconds – an action almost too small to miss, but I knew what to look for. She definitely knew.
"He does?"
"Don't play dumb, you know everything," I replied, rolling my eyes. She sighed and leant against the fridge, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"I found out a few days after he came back."
I grit my teeth, forcing myself to stay calm even though the brat's newest habit was unbelievably agitating. "And you didn't tell me why?"
"Ash, seriously?" She let out an exasperated sigh. "Things were already fucked between you two, and me telling you that he smokes wouldn't exactly have helped. What did you expect, me coming to you like, 'Hey Ash, Kiri smokes, now please kiss his nicotine infected lips'? You can't be mad at me for that."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at him."
Gill shrugged and slightly tilted her head. "When did you find out?"
"This morning. He came into work, and I saw the pack in his pocket."
"He brought them with him? God, he's so dumb." She shook her head, chuckling a little.
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. He's dumb."
"So, why did you invite him over today?" she asked, the curiosity obvious in her gaze. I shrugged. To be honest, I didn't even really know myself.
I had been so angry when I found the cigarettes. Kiri was alone for a few months and already picked up smoking. What was next, heroin?
He was making dumb decisions, and I know I shouldn't care – I tried so, so hard not to care – but I couldn't just stand there and watch him wreck his own health.
Maybe he only smoked every now and then. Maybe it wasn't a real addiction yet.
But I found those thoughts hard to believe. If he only smoked occasionally, he wouldn't carry a pack around with him for a quick trip to the supermarket. He wouldn't keep them close if he didn't feel like he needed them.
I caught myself shaking my head at the boy's stupidity. I hated that he smoked, and I hated that I cared. But those were the facts, and there was no point in denying them.
So, I had somehow picked up the idea to keep him closer, so I could keep an eye on him. And here we were, at Gill's house, hanging out like we used to.
What a fucking reason to party.
"He's gonna quit soon, I'm certain," Gill said, shooting me a smile. "Once he's over the whole breakup thing, he'll be fine."
I wasn't sure if she only said that to convince herself.
"Yeah, sure. Let's get back."
Kiri was standing up when we came back out, and I caught my gaze falling to his pants, eyeing the pockets for any outlines of a pack of cigarettes. I didn't see any. Good, it would have been even dumber for him to bring any here.
"So, I'll go now," he said, forcing a smile at us. "Thanks for the drink, Gill."
"Anytime," she replied, smiling back at him. "I'll just lay here for some time. You go off and be stupid somewhere else."
"I'm not-" Kiri started, but stopped when I sighed.
"Let's go."
He shot me a surprised look, but quickly followed me when I walked around the house. A few clouds had come up over the day, and the sky was now painted in a dark shade of orange since the sun was slowly but surely going down.
I raised a brow when my gaze fell on the boy in front of Gill's house, standing next to his motorbike and smoking a cigarette. His face seemed familiar, and it took me a second to recognize him as the one who had been in front of school with Kiri some time ago. When we were just done playing soccer.
"Hi," Kiri greeted him, and I suddenly had a sour taste in my mouth.
"Hey," the boy greeted back. Then his gaze fell on me. "Ah, the Asher kid, am I right?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Yeah. Conan?"
He nodded, and Kiri next to us nervously shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Uh, let's just-" he started, but was cut off by Conan.
"You two hung out all day?" he asked, his head turning to Kiri who shook his head.
"Just now. Let's go now."
"Why, I just got here," Conan replied, his gaze meeting mine. "So, how are you, Asher?"
The way he said my name made me want to kick his stupid bike. "I'm fine."
"Good, good." He took another drag from his cigarette, then held it out to Kiri. "You wanna finish it?"
"No," Kiri hissed, obviously annoyed at this point. He glanced at me, but I just rolled my eyes.
"See you," I said before turning around and walking down the street, hoping they would drive off in a different direction.
But of course I could hear the roaring engine of Conan's bike driving past me just a few seconds later, the sight of Kiri sitting behind the boy nothing but a blur of motion soon after.
The anger boiling up inside me was hard to form into words. Conan's smug grin when he greeted me, and the naturalness with which he offered Kiri the cigarette. That obviously hadn't been the first time.
So this is where he was getting his cigarettes from. It had to be Conan.
I was scowling as I entered my own house, empty as expected since mom was still at work. When would Kiri finally stop making such idiotic decisions?